Photography Exhibitions in Rome: Our Picks for Spring 2012

Information about photography exhibitions are often hard to get as most of these showings in Rome are free and held by private galleries/institutions.

But we love pictures and think that there is plenty of choice in the Eternal City. Furthermore, going to visit a photo exhibit is also a good way to go out of the usual roads and squares of downtown Rome and explore new areas.

Let’s start with a well-known venue: Palazzo delle Esposizioni. Through July 8 you can admire Arturo Ghergo’s portraits of the Italian and International jet-set of the 1930s-1950s. His “Fotografie 1930-1959” exhibit will also include the first images of the fashion industry by one of the key photographers of the time.

Fashion is also the main theme of the showing Mash-Up in Rome’s best museums for photography exhibitions: Museo di Roma in Trastevere. The exhibit, with pictures by three Italian photographers, will begin on June first and will run through July 22.

A completely different set of portraits is on display in a totally dissimilar exposition space, a photo gallery in the Ostiense area. Officine Fotografiche hosts until June 15 “Vietato!” a showing of photos which stress and criticize the limits imposed by privacy rules. Free admission

Our favorite commercial photo gallery in Rome, 10b photography, is now featuring an exhibit of pictures on Mafia stories by two Sicilian female photographers. “Storie di Mafia” will be on display through June 29. Free of charge.

A lighter topic is addressed at the Auditorium from June 1. Big names of the photography scene will display their images of music stars. “Grandi Fotografi a 33 giri” is also free.Through June 29.

A photo exhibit that kids will easily like is at the Zoology Museum with underwater pictures of all forms of life by Alberto Muro Pelliconi. Until July 31.

MAXXI, Rome’s best contemporary art museum, has just inaugurated a photo exhibit by Paola de Pietri on how WWI’s trenches and bombings changed the mountain environment along the Italo-Austrian border. Through September 30.

Last but not least, Memorandum, the Historical Photography Festival which takes place in two different and far apart locations: the Archive and Record Institute in Trastevere and the Ethnography Museum in EUR. 16 photo collections from all over the world covering the mid1850s-1970s period. Through June 15.